| FLEXJET Fractional Jet News Briefs (Courtesy of NetJets, "The Buyer's Guide to Fractional Aircraft Ownership") |
A Company or individual who has decided to pursue a private aviation solution has three choices: charter, fractional ownership, or ownership of an entire plane. The answers to the following questions will help you determine what your best option will be:
How often do you travel?
Where do you fly?
How long do you stay?
How many hours do you actually spend in the air every year?
The charter alternative
From an economic perspective, harter services may be the best private aviation solution for companies or individuals who fly fewer than 35-50 hours per year. There are three types of charter services. First, there are those that manage many of the aircraft they make available for chartering. Second, there are those that function almost exclusively as brokers, giving you access to aircraft owned and managed by others. Third, there are web-based companies offering charter services who serve as agents for other carriers and waive responsibility for any acts or omissions by those carriers.
There are several key questions to ask before chartering an aircraft.
Will I be flying in an aircraft directly managed by the charter company or will I be brokered to another charter operator? If the flight will be brokered, find out the name of the company that will actually provide the service and ensure that you ask all of the following questions about that company.
What is the age of the aircraft?
Who maintains the aircraft?
What training do the charter pilots receive?
How many hours of experience do the pilots have in the aircraft type they are flying?
What’s the charter provider’s safety record?
Does the charter provider monitor weather at departure, in-flight, and at your destination?
Ask for references. Make a few calls.
Many of the criteria for evaluating fractional aircraft ownership companies should also be used in assessing and selecting charter providers.
You should be very careful to select a quality provider that operates and maintains their aircraft to the highest industry standards. Similarly, if you are using a broker, ensure that the providers they select are the highest quality. Further, it is important to note that charter services of any type cannot always provide a plane where and when needed; you may also incur costs for late cancellations and for repositioning an aircraft to your location after on-way flights.
Choosing fractional aircraft ownership
Fractional ownership is the most cost-effective transportation solution when an individual or company needs an aircraft between 50-400 hours per year. It is particularly advantageous if they require departures from multiple locatons and may need more than one aircraft per day.
The ownership of an entire aircraft can make the best economic sense when the required flying hours exceed 400 hours per year: However, there are several factors that may lead you to choose fractional ownership even if you are flying more than 400 hours per year. Fractional ownership may still be right for you if you answer "yes" to any of the following questions.
Do your trips originate from multiple locations?
Do the number of passengers and the distance of trips vary?
Do you stay for multiple days?
Do your personal or business needs make an "out-of-service" plane unacceptable?
Do you often need more than one aircraft on a given day?
If you already own an aircraft, does it often "deadhead" or fly empty?
A combined solution
The optimal solution may involve a combination of whole aircraft, charter, and fractional aircraft ownership. For example, fractional ownership provides the additional "lift’ that allows companies to keep their fleet operating smoothly 24 hours a day, 365 hours a year. If an executive unexpectedly needs to be picked up in an out-of-the-way location, if and aircraft is sidelined for maintenance, or if a shortage in air travel requirements temporarily outstrips their fleet’s capacity, their fractionally owned aircraft is the ideal supplement.